Microsoft news

[dwarakesh]

Microsoft says no new cost cuts, shares hit 11-year low

Microsoft Corp outlined plans to offset revenue declines as the PC market shifts to low-cost netbooks, but it failed to announce more cost cuts, sending its shares to an 11-year low.

Chief Executive Steve Ballmer told an analysts' meeting in New York on Tuesday that Microsoft will offer robust versions of its yet-to-be-released Windows 7 operating software for netbooks, as the company looks to boost revenue from these hot-selling, low-cost computers.

But Microsoft shares fell more than 3 percent after Ballmer quashed the hopes of some investors for accelerated cost cuts. Microsoft had announced plans to lay off 5,000 workers on January 22 as part of a plan to save $1.5 billion in annual costs.

"I don't think it makes sense for us to come back and say, 'Could we take out another $2 billion in costs?'" Ballmer said at the analysts' meeting.

Avian Securities Jeff Gaggin said investors were disappointed with Ballmer's decision to hold off on further cost cutting measures, and that he chose not to reassure them that the board will maintain the company's current dividend.

"There was a lot left to interpretation," Gaggin said.

Microsoft, which a month ago blamed netbooks for weaker-than-expected quarterly profits, said it is planning to ship a low-end version of Windows 7 for netbooks, and make it easy for users to upgrade to more expensive editions.

"We will have high market share on netbooks," Ballmer said as he painted a grim outlook for the economy.

"I often think of this as an economic reset. It's not a recession from which you recover," he added.

Ballmer also said he still wants to team up with Yahoo Inc to compete against Internet search giant Google Inc, though he is not interested in buying Yahoo.

He said he hopes to discuss a possible search partnership with Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz, and added that he expects Google to start competing with the Windows operating system by offering a version of its Android operating system for laptop computers.

Google launched Android last year as an operating system for smart phones.

Microsoft shares fell 33 cents to $16.88, after hitting an 11-year low of $16.36.

Source: Economictimes

[VelMurugan]

Microsoft trains job seekers in US

SAN FRANCISCO: Microsoft is tossing lifelines to people in the United States lacking technology skills needed to win jobs in the Internet Age.

Microsoft teamed with political leaders in a set of US states to launch an Elevate America initiative expected to provide online and real world technology training to as many as two million people during the next three years.

"Millions of Americans don't have the technology skills needed in today's economy," said Pamela Passman, Microsoft corporate vice president of global corporate affairs.

"We want to help workers get the skills they need to succeed."

For years Microsoft has worked with businesses and community-based organizations to promote information technology (IT) education.

The decision to ramp-up those efforts this week with an Elevate America program is a "response to the current economic crisis," Microsoft said.

The initiative is designed to provide state and local governments tools and resources for "no-cost or low-cost technology skills training to help get people back to work," according to Passman.

Microsoft has information about marketable technology skills and how to acquire them available online at http://www.microsoft.com/ElevateAmerica.

The website provides access to Microsoft online training programs ranging from basics such as using Internet, sending email and creating resumes to handling more advanced software programs.

Florida, New York and Washington are the first US states to partner with Microsoft to offer in-depth technology programs, including some with the potential to result in certifications of training.

"At the federal, state and local level, leaders are working together to help start the engine of economic growth," said Washington Governor Chris Gregoire.

"The private sector provides much of the spark needed to jump-start that engine."

Florida governor Charlie Crist cites a successful Elevate Miami program that the state and Microsoft have collaborated on for several years as proof the approach is effective.

"We have worked with Microsoft for years in Miami to bring technology training to underserved populations," Crist said.

"Now, with Elevate America, we have the opportunity to bring these important skills to even more people, at a time when they are needed more than ever."

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that half of the jobs available today require at least some technology training and that the figure will rise to 77 percent during the coming decade.

"It's not just scientists and engineers that need technical skills," Passman said. "Jobs in every industry at every level need basic proficiency with computers and other digital technologies."

An economic stimulus bill recently signed by US president Barack Obama will provide federal support for sharpening the technical edge of the US workforce, but government "cannot and should not do it all," Passman said.

"It is essential that the private sector and government work together in partnership to strengthen America's workforce," she added.

Microsoft is providing a million vouchers for free access to online "eLearning" courses and to wave costs of exams needed to be certified as proficient with certain of the US software giant's tools.

Microsoft is also providing money and software community groups can use to build in-classroom programs.

Source : Indiatimes

[ganeshbala]

Microsoft announces Windows 7 changes

Microsoft has unveiled some of the changes it will make to Windows 7 when it moves from the popular public beta to its first release candidate.

From the start, Microsoft has openly admitted that some features are not included in the beta that will make the final version; and on the Engineering Windows 7 blog, the software giant has noted some of the changes it will make following feedback.

It suggests that the 36 changes listed are just a sample of some of the changes it will have integrated into the first release candidate of Windows 7, when it finally arrives.

Tweaks and shifts

Some of the changes, listed by Chaitanya Sareen, are relatively minor, including tweaks to the desktop experience like Windows Flip (Alt + Tab) with Aero Peek, and more shortcuts using the Windows key.

Interestingly, Microsoft has also indicated it will switch back to a more obvious 'needy window' alert - when a program that needs attention flashed on the taskbar - because the first iteration in Windows 7 was too subtle.

"Since the '90s, the taskbar has always provided some type of visualisation to alert the customer to this state such as by flashing the button," says Sareen.

"A careful balance must be struck between providing information and not irritating the customer.

Too subtle

"With the new taskbar, we received feedback that Outlook reminders or a Messenger chat sometimes went unnoticed because needy windows were too subtle," Sareen adds

"We've made three changes that should address the issue. First, we changed the flashing animation curve to make it more noticeable (from a sine to a sawtooth wave).

"Second, we used a bolder orange colour. Finally, we wanted to double the number of flashes which is currently set to three. As a nod to Windows 7, we decided to go with seven flashes instead."


Source : techradar

[Nel]

Good work MS

[dwarakesh]

Micosoft begins process of testing Kumo.com

Microsoft Corp has begun the process of testing a revamped version of its Internet search service Kumo.com as the software giant tries
to improve its third-place position in the online search market, a media report said on Tuesday.

In an email sent on Monday afternoon to all Microsoft employees, Satya Nadella, Senior Vice-President of research and development for Microsoft's online services division, invited staffers to begin testing the Kumo search engine, currently only available on the company's internal network, the Wall Street Journal reported.

For now, Microsoft's Live Search, at live.com, remains the company's search engine for the public.

A person familiar with the matter was quoted as saying that Microsoft hasn't decided yet whether to rebrand Live Search as Kumo, which Nadella refers to as a code name in his email.

Kumo in Japanese means spider, a reference to so-called spider software that crawls from website to website, adding the data to vast search-engine indexes, the paper said.

Speculation, the paper said, has long swirled on the Internet that Microsoft would use the Kumo name for its search engine after it was discovered that the company had ownership of the Kumo.com address.

Source: Economictimes

[VelMurugan]

Microsoft to create 3,000 jobs

HANOVER: Microsoft may create up to 3,000 jobs as it raises investment in research and development by $1 billion this year, its chief operating officer said on Tuesday.

"Realignment of the company will help us reassign people and could allow us to create some 2,000 to 3,000 new jobs," Kevin Turner said at CeBit, Europe's biggest technology trade fair.

Turner said while Microsoft was eliminating jobs in some areas, new opportunities would arise at the same time. He reiterated that Microsoft, under pressure to trim costs amid a global recession, would stick to its research budget this year.

"We will invest a record $9 billion in R&D ... spend a billion more than last year," Turner said, adding Internet-based applications -- so called cloud computing -- would be a major field for Microsoft's investment.

The current macroeconomic climate was the most challenging most people had ever seen in their lifetime, Turner said. "We believe while this may be a once in a lifetime event it may also be a once in a lifetime opportunity to create new business models," Turner said.

Source : IndiaTimes

[VelMurugan]

Microsoft job cuts: No H1-B bias

WASHINGTON: Microsoft Corp will neither favour American nor foreign workers as it cuts thousands of jobs, the company said in response to a senator's call that the jobs of US employees be preserved.

Microsoft said in January that it would eliminate up to 5,000 jobs, or about 5 per cent of its workforce, surprising investors as it released quarterly results that missed Wall Street expectations. The news also caught the eye of Republican Sen.

Charles Grassley, who fired off a letter asking that Microsoft detail the cuts, while urging the world's biggest software company to preserve the jobs of Americans ahead of foreigners with visas. Microsoft said it was too early to be precise, but the percentage of workers at the company who hold so-called H-1B visas would remain roughly the same.

"We do not expect to see a significant change in the proportion of H-1B employees in our workforce following the job reductions," General Counsel Bradford Smith said in a letter to Grassley. The Senator said the response left him wanting more details.

"I'm still left without much information about how Microsoft is ensuring American workers are being protected or specifics of its H-1B visa hiring practices," Grassley said in a statement.

H-1B employees have always amounted to less than 15 per cent of Microsoft's US workforce, Smith said in the letter dated March 3. "The potential to tap into the world's best minds has long been essential to our success," he wrote. Microsoft has been a champion of expanding the H-1B temporary visa programme, which lets American companies and universities hire foreign workers in a category the government considers "specialty occupations."

The company also said that, including positions to be created, the net impact would be 2,000 to 3,000 fewer jobs. Grassley, who is the ranking Republican member of the Senate Finance Committee, had asked Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer to provide a breakdown of the jobs to be eliminated, how many of those are staffed with individuals with H-1B visas and how many with Americans

Source : IndiaTimes

[dwarakesh]

EU ends full-time monitoring of Microsoft

Microsoft got a reward for good behavior from European Union regulators on Wednesday when they ended close checks on the company's compliance with a 2004 antitrust order.

The European Commission said it no longer needed a full-time monitoring trustee to make sure Microsoft Corp. was obeying an EU order to share technical information with rivals that would help them make products compatible with Microsoft servers.

It said this was ``in light of changes in Microsoft's behavior'' and the possibility for rivals to take Microsoft before national courts if it didn't share information as agreed under a license program.

It said it would now rely on technical consultants when necessary.

The EU executive appointed computer science professor Neil Barrett in 2005 to assess data provided by Microsoft _ documents that he later judged as ``unusable'' as a manual for software engineers.

Microsoft has been working with antitrust regulators and software companies to improve the interoperability information the EU ordered it to share. In 2007, it lost a legal challenge to the EU order where it claimed that regulators had forced it to give intellectual property to rivals.

Source: Economictimes

[nithyasubramanian]

H-1B visa helped us: Microsoft 

Washington, March 04: Observing that the H-1B work visa programme helps hire the best available talent of the world, American software giant Microsoft has said H-1B visa holders has contributed significantly to its success.

However, the company, which had recently announced to lay off some 5,000 jobs in the next 18 months, would be handing over pink slips to H-1B visa holders too.

Microsoft's observation on H-1B visas and their significant contribution to its success was made by the company in a letter to Senator Charles Grassley.

H1-B employees have always accounted for less than 15 per cent of Microsoft's US workforce, the level that is used in immigration law to determine whether a company is "H-1B dependent," the letter said.

The Senator in a letter dated January 22 had sought information from Microsoft particularly about how its plan to fire 5,000 people would affect US workers and non-US citizens working for Microsoft.

The Microsoft letter dated March 3 written by Bradford L Smith, its general counsel, has been posted on its website http://microsoftontheissues.com.

"Nonetheless, the ability to tap into the world's best minds has long been essential to our success. Although they are a small percentage of our workforce, H-1B workers have long made crucial contributions to Microsoft's innovation successes and to our ability to help create jobs in this country.

"We are confident this will continue to be true in the future," said the Microsoft.

Microsoft said it focuses its recruiting for core technology jobs at US universities, which continue to be among the best in the world for computer science and engineering graduates. However, as one recent study found, in 2005 temporary residents earned more than 40 per cent of the engineering and computer science degrees at US higher education institutions. For doctoral degrees, that number was even higher, as temporary residents accounted for 59 per cent of the degrees awarded in these fields that year, the letter said.

"The substantial majority of H-1B petitions filed by Microsoft are for core technology positions, and technology and engineering positions account for about 90 per cent of Microsoft's H-1B workforce," Microsoft said.

Many of these H-1B employees have been seeking permanent resident status for many years and would no longer be dependent on their H-1B visas but for multi-year delays in the green card process, the letter observed.

"With these factors taken together, we do not expect to see a significant change in the proportion of H-1B employees in our workforce following the job reductions," said the company in its letter.

Answering to the specific question from the Senator on H-1B people losing their jobs, the Microsoft said: "Workers on H-1B visas and other temporary work visas make up only a small percentage of our overall workforce, but they were also among the employees impacted by the reductions announced in January. Employees outside the United States were also impacted."

Since majority of Microsoft's workforce is made up of US workers, the company said the majority of jobs eliminated in January were held by US workers.

courtesy : Zeenews.com

[dwarakesh]

Microsoft decides to sack H1-B visa workers

American software giant Microsoft agreeing to the fact that H1-B visa holders have contributed a lot to the success of the company, it has however decided to layoff H1-B visa workers too. The company had recently announced to lay off some 5,000 jobs in the next 18 months.

The contribution of H1-B visa employees towards success of the company has been mentioned in a letter to Senator Charles Grassley by the company.

H1-B employees account for less than 15 per cent of Microsoft's US workforce, the level that is used in immigration law to determine whether a company is 'H-1B dependent', the letter said.

[dwarakesh]

Microsoft Recruiting For Windows 7 Small Biz Blitzkrieg

Microsofts wants small businesses that have avoided Windows Vista like the plague to upgrade to Windows 7, and the software giant is enlisting the aid of its small business-focused solution providers to help make that happen.

Earlier this week, Microsoft quietly unveiled its Windows 7 Small Business Ignite Program, which gives small businesses a chance to test out the Windows 7 Beta with guidance from Microsoft channel partners.

The program, details of which are scarce, appears to be aimed at convincing small businesses that, unlike Vista, Windows 7 won't actually destroy their businesses and ransack their homes. In other words, it's another effort to counteract entrenched negative views of Vista.

But despite the positive early returns on the Windows 7 beta, Microsoft faces enormous challenges in getting small businesses, many of which are perfectly content running their day-to-day operations on Windows XP, to justify spending for the upgrade to Windows 7. And that would be the case even if the economy weren't in a full-fledged meltdown mode.

"Windows XP is a very stable operating system that all of my clients are familiar with, trust, and have no reason to upgrade from. They will not go en masse to Windows 7, regardless of the price," said Jere Terrill, principal at My Computer Mechanic, a Castle Rock, Colo.-based solution provider.

Microsoft's small-business-focused partners were among the last to receive the final release of Windows Vista, and that put a big dent in their confidence in Vista's ability to perform in a production environment, according to Mark Crall, president of Charlotte Tech Care Team, a Charlotte, N.C.-based solution provider.

By getting the Windows 7 Release Candidate in small business partners' hands earlier, Microsoft can help erase those bad memories. However, there is no financial incentive for Microsoft partners to sell new deployments of Windows 7 to small businesses under current licensing arrangements, as their only options are upgrade, OEM or Retail licensing, Crall noted.

"Unless you are a system builder, or selling large quantities, then all you can do is wait for their hardware to die and suggest they callDell (NSDQ: Dell)," Crall said.

Last November, speculation flared that Microsoft might be planning to offer a "Windows 7 for Small Businesses" edition at some point in the future. This was fueled by the appearance of a Microsoft job posting for a Senior Marketing Manager, whose responsibilities would be to "increase the effectiveness of partner co-marketing direct to Small and Medium Business customers and through partners' extensive indirect channel partners, including distribution and breadth reseller network."

With Vista, small businesses had just two choices -- Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Enterprise -- neither of which fit their needs and both of which were too expensive for the segment.

If Microsoft does come out with a small-business-focused Windows 7 SKU, with a lighter price tag to match, that could help remove some of the barriers and spur Windows 7 adoption, according to solution providers.

[dwarakesh]

Microsoft solicits fresh search deals with Yahoo

After the failed deal between Yahoo and Microsoft earlier last year that forced then Yahoo chairman Jerry Yang to resign, the software giant is now back again, soliciting fresh deals with the new management of the search company, reports The Times.

Citing an interview with Kevin Turner, chief operating officer of Microsoft, he has reportedly given a peace offering to Carol Bartz, the new chief executive of Yahoo!, indicating Microsoft's interest in Yahoo for a smaller deal regarding a partnership on search functions.

Further he added that any transaction with Yahoo would make economic sense to both the parties and therefore he has intimated it with their desire of partnering.

Last year Yahoo!, under the leadership of Jerry Yang, turned down a deal with Microsoft, which offered $47.5 billion for the internet business, which later on led to forced resignation of Mr. Yang, following revolt by shareholders headed by Carl Icahn, the billionaire investor.

According to other reports, Microsoft is carrying tests to roll out new online search service, codenamed kumo.com.

In the US Search market, Microsoft stands third with 8.5 per cent of all searches; chasing Google''s 63 percent and Yahoo's 21 percent.

The global share of Google is further much bigger.

Source: Telecomtiger

[dwarakesh]

Microsoft Patches Windows DNS, Kernel Flaws

Microsoft has released software patches fixing a handful of critical bugs in the Windows kernel, as well as flaws in the Windows Directory Name System and SChannel security software.

The software vendor rates the three Windows kernel bugs as critical because they could be used to create attack code that would run unauthorized software on a victim's machine. The SChannel and DNS bugs are given the less-scary rating of "important" by Microsoft, meaning the company doesn't think they're as likely to be used to take over a PC.

The Windows kernel update, MS09-006, should be the first one applied, according to Eric Schultze, chief technology officer with Shavlik Technologies. That's because it "could allow an attacker to take complete control of your computer if you view a website, email, or document that contains an evil graphic or picture," he said via e-mail.

This update is rated critical for all versions of Windows.

Schultze also considers the four DNS vulnerabilities patched in the MS09-008 update as a top priority because they could be used in man-in-the-middle attacks, "to redirect Internet traffic to look-alike websites in hopes of gathering sensitive user information," Schultze said. This kind of flaw was a top security concern last year after security researcher Dan Kaminsky showed how a bug in almost all of the world's DNS software could be exploited in this type of man-in-the-middle attack.

In fact, two of the DNS bugs relate to Kaminsky's attack, fixing Windows flaws that could help an attacker place inaccurate information on a DNS server. Both bugs would be hard to exploit in real-word scenarios, however, according to Matt Watchinski, senior director of vulnerability research with security vendor Sourcefire. "This is Microsoft being diligent," he said. "They found a few new ways to do a few of these [attacks]."

Microsoft also patched a bug in the SChannel software used to create SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) connections on Windows systems. The bug could allow an attacker to spoof a digital certificate, Microsoft said.

The SANS Internet Storm Center has provided its own overview of Tuesday's patches, rating all of them critical.

As expected, Microsoft did not fix a highly publicized Excel bug that has been recently reported in a small number of very targeted attacks.

Source: Pcworld

[nithyasubramanian]

Microsoft launches Project Vikas for benefit of SMEs

Chennai, March 12: With a focus on driving IT penetration across Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), IT major Microsoft India on Thursday launched 'Project Vikas' in partnership with the Centre's National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council (NMCC).

"With Project Vikas, we aim to help SMEs, by bringing tailor made software solutions and make operations more efficient, leading to increased revenues and creating relationships with customers and partners," Microsoft India, Emerging Geographies, Director Rajiv Sodhi told reporters here.

"With an objective of covering 25 industrial clusters, we have so far covered 10 clusters across the country," he said.

For training the SMEs, he said they have partnered with 30-40 institutions. "In Chennai, we have associated with several partners to develop solutions for various critical issues in leather manufacturing," he said.

"The initial areas which were targeted (to offer the training programme) were Pune and Jamshedpur for auto-industry; Ludhiana and Tirupur for textile industry; Hyderabad and Ahmedabad for pharma and Chennai and Agra for the leather sector" Rajiv Sodhi told reporters.

He said, 'Firstware Leather Solution' by Firstware Software solution - 'the hosted CRM solution' by Enzen and the 'hosted exchange' by Net4India were some of the solutions offered for the leather industry.

These software solutions, developed by Microsoft partners, had been tailor made to address critical business points in leather manufacturing and processing, he said.

He said the three key benefits of Project Vikas to the Chennai leather cluster were its tailor made IT solution, the E-Readiness Centre and a cluster specific portal. "It will help the SMEs and connect them with the national and global market," he added.

courtesy : Zeenews.com

[nithyasubramanian]

Micro Focus Launches Liant 12

New Delhi, March 12: Micro Focus on Thursday launched Liant 12, the newest version of this application development product suite. The company has also upgraded Micro Focus development products including RM/COBOL, Xcentrisity and the RM/COBOL data tool Relativity.

Liant 12 improves existing functionality and performance, including larger capacity and increased efficiency for RM/COBOL identifiers and improved compatibility with Windows. As a result, customers are able to more easily preserve the value of existing application logic while taking advantage of newer technologies and platforms.

Peter Anderton, Product Solutions Director, Micro Focus. "The integration of RM/COBOL into Micro Focus enables Micro Focus to deliver the easiest and most efficient route to COBOL modernization for our customers."

Micro Focus' Liant RM/COBOL product line enables organizations to maintain a single set of source code while deploying applications on popular open platforms such as Unix and Windows NT. Customers are able to retain the reliability of COBOL while integrating existing applications with modern, cutting edge technologies.

Micro Focus' RM/COBOL data tool Relativity products allow core data from sophisticated Micro Focus or RM/COBOL applications to be re-tooled as a full-featured relational database. Using these products, customers are able to quickly and efficiently integrate core data into distributed client/server applications.

Micro Focus Xcentrisity allows customers to Web-enable existing COBOL-based applications, providing solutions that enable these COBOL applications to interoperate freely and easily with other applications that use the XML standard.

courtesy : Zeenews.com

[dwarakesh]

Microsoft signs imaging agreement

Microsoft and Lexmark have signed a patent cross-licensing agreement that allows enhanced mutual access to each partner's respective patent portfolios.

This agreement covers a broad range of products, including Lexmark printers, multifunction printers and Microsoft software applications. The terms of the agreement are not yet disclosed.

David Kaefer, general manager of Intellectual Property (IP) Licensing at Microsoft said that the agreement will allow both the companies to shorten development cycle and increase focus on customer-related products.

Lexmark has a range of printing and imaging solutions for offices and homes including laser printers, inkjet printers, multifunction devices and associated supplies.

Interestingly, in February 2009 Microsoft has signed a patent deal with printing and imaging company, Brother Industries. Microsoft launched its IP licensing program in December 2003, the company has entered into more than 500 licensing agreements.

Source: itexaminer

[dwarakesh]

Microsoft adds shortcuts, security to new browser

Microsoft Corp will release a new version of Internet Explorer on Thursday, adding features meant to speed up common Web surfing tasks and bringing the browser's security measures in line with those of major competitors.

The number of browsers has grown to a dizzying array, from Internet Explorer and Mozilla's Firefox, the two most popular, to Apple Inc.'s Safari, Google Inc.'s Chrome, the Norwegian entrant Opera and others. Each is using speed, security enhancements and new features to fight for a share of Web surfers' growing time online. Microsoft remains the dominant player, but Firefox's influence is growing.

Google's entry into the market last year also shows the Web search leader believes owning the browser can help it better understand Web users' behavior and advertise to them more effectively — an area in which Microsoft is struggling to catch up.

Internet Explorer 8, which marks Microsoft's first major browser update since August 2006, takes a stab at fixing many of the small annoyances people encounter every day.

For one, IE8 aims to reduce the need to copy something from one Web page and paste it into another — mapping a restaurant address, Googling a celebrity name, looking up an unknown word in Wikipedia or sharing a story by e-mail, Twitter or Facebook.

A list of those little actions, which Microsoft is calling Accelerators, can be called up by highlighting the text on a page and clicking on a small blue icon that appears. People can add new Accelerators to reflect their own search, e-mail and other habits.

The new version of IE also adds a twist to the built-in toolbar search box.

Firefox already lets people switch easily among search providers and sites like Amazon.com, eBay and Wikipedia using a drop-down menu. Microsoft takes this feature a step further. Type a word into the box and a preview of suggested searches or results appears in a drop-down list. Toggle between different search providers by clicking small icons in that window, and the list refreshes.

So, search for "Camper shoes," for example. Choosing Live Search calls up a list of suggested search terms. Switch to Amazon.com by simply clicking a small button to see a list of products for sale, complete with photos and prices.

Microsoft also has expanded on a feature present on some browsers today — a toolbar button that opens a menu of the most recent news headlines. IE 8 users can add a number of "Web slices" to keep track of eBay auctions, stock quotes, blog posts, weather forecasts and other information that is frequently updated.

Another useful feature — one that Firefox lacks but Google Inc.'s new Chrome browser employs — keeps related tabs together. If a user clicks on a link, thereby opening a new tab, Microsoft tucks that tab right next to the original. IE8 also gives the tabs a common color. And in IE 8, when a Web page in one tab crashes, it doesn't bring down the whole browser.

The Redmond, Wash.-based software maker added some new privacy features, including a mode for Web browsing that doesn't remember what sites were visited nor stores small data files called cookies. IE 8 also lets people block ads from companies that track their Web surfing habits across a number of sites, a practice known as behavioral targeting.

Microsoft also made some much-needed security improvements in Internet Explorer 8, many of which are already employed by competing products.

It beefed up protection against malware and known phishing scam sites, and built in technology to protect against another kind of threat, "cross-site scripting," in which hackers insert code into legitimate Web pages that compromise peoples' computers without them knowing it. IE 8 disables the bad scripts but in most cases allows others needed for a Web page to run as usual.

Firefox already does something similar with an add-on program, but Microsoft argues that only the most sophisticated users know to seek it out and install it.

IE 8 also helps people who create Web sites prevent another kind of attack called "click-jacking," where a Web surfer might think they're clicking on a legitimate button when in fact they're activating an invisible, malicious action.

Microsoft has been notorious for building Web browsers that only partially follow Web standards, or agreed-upon ways of reading Web designers' code and displaying the page as described. With IE 8, Microsoft has promised to adhere to standards. But since many Web pages, including Microsoft's own corporate sites, were built to work best with IE, the new version may "break" some pages.

source: economictimes

[dwarakesh]

Microsoft Corp is set to publicly launch Internet Explorer 8 early on Thursday, the latest version of its market-dominating Web browser.

The application, an integral part of Microsoft's eagerly awaited Windows 7 operating system, can be downloaded from Microsoft's website from 9 am Pacific time, free for people using licensed Microsoft operating systems.

IE8, as it is commonly referred to, has been in public beta testing for about a year, but Thursday's launch marks its full public rollout.

Microsoft, the world's largest software company, said IE8 will run with Windows Vista, its latest operating system, and also Windows XP, the previous version which some users still prefer over Vista.

The application replaces IE7, which has a lock on the browser market. According to a recent survey by IT consultants Janco Associates Inc, Internet explorer has a 72.2 perc ent market share, ahead of the Mozilla Foundation's Firefox browser with 17.2 per cent. Google Inc's new Chrome browser has only 2.8 per cent of the market, while Apple Inc's Safari has less than 1 per cent.

Microsoft has run afoul of US and European antitrust regulators for bundling its browser with its operating system, which competitors say is an attempt to drive them out of the market.

Last month, Google joined Mozilla and Norway's Opera in protesting Microsoft's dominance in the browser market. In January, European regulators brought formal charges against Microsoft for abusing its dominant market position by bundling its Internet Explorer Web browser with its Windows operating system, which is used in 95 percent of the world's personal computers.

Microsoft has already announced that users of Windows 7, expected later this year or early next year, will be able to turn key programs like Internet Explorer off, making it easier to use other browsers.

New features in IE8 include right-clicking on addresses or other Web features to go straight to a map or put into a blog or other website, which Microsoft calls an "accelerator". Users will also be able to put in keywords in the address bar to recall sites visited related to that word.

The new browser also has enhanced security protection, for example warning users if they are about to download something from a site known to be a source of malicious software, or "malware".

source: economictimes

[VelMurugan]

Microsoft to shut online encyclopedia

SAN FRANCISCO: Microsoft plans to close its Encarta online encyclopedia, which competes in an arena dominated by communally-crafted free Internet reference source Wikipedia.

The US software colossus said that on October 31 it will turn off all its Encarta websites everywhere except in Japan, with that service to be terminated on the last day of December.

"The category of traditional encyclopedias and reference material has changed," Microsoft said in an online message at its Encarta website.

"People today seek and consume information in considerably different ways than in years past."

Encarta was launched in 1993 as competition for traditional reference books such as those offered by Encyclopedia Britannica. Encarta was originally available for purchase as a multimedia computer resource in DVD-ROM or CD-ROM formats and eventually became available online on a subscription basis.

Encarta's popularity faded after the nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation launched Wikipedia online in 2001.

While Wikipedia lets users continually update or refine entries, improvements suggested to Encarta must pass muster with editors before eventually being incorporated into the data base.

source : indiatimes

[dwarakesh]

Microsoft To Reveal AppStore Details at CTIA

The CTIA 2009 is just around the corner and Microsoft seems to have made its intentions clear as far as its Application Store is concerned.

While Microsoft's "Sky Market" is not ready yet, it is expected to be up and running by the end of the year, soon after the arrival of Windows Mobile 6.5. Microsoft has now, before the CTIA, announced further details about the Application Store and upcoming Windows Mobile features. These include more personalization options and software that will allow UI elements to be tinkered around with. Microsoft has collaborated with the Design Museum, London, and the Council of Fashion Designers of America to offer "designer" themes for the upcoming Windows Mobile 6.5. There is also a theme generator software in the making.

Microsoft will also demonstrate to the world this week how it plans to implement the Application Store and how the store will "work." The demonstration includes details on how exactly a user will be able to browse, select, and download an application from the Application Store. Microsoft has decided on a revenue-sharing model, which is similar to Apple's model, with 70% going towards the developer and Microsoft getting to keep 30 percent.

Other policies revealed include the 24-hour period that an user can avail of for a full refund on an application purchase. Developers can also issue multiple updates to an application, free of charge. Apart from this, Microsoft will also shed light on its "branded" App Stores (carriers and network operators will get their own app stores).

App Store has many new joiners, with the likes of EA Mobile, Facebook, Sling Media, and 25 other companies pledging support for the Sky Market.

source: techtree

[sajiv]

Microsoft adds Windows version for cheap servers

Microsoft announced a new server for small businesses, though one should not confuse it with a new version of the company's Small Business Server product.

The latter is a bundle of Windows Server and Exchange, among other things, for businesses with 50 or fewer people while the new product, Windows Server 2008 Foundation, is only the operating system and is aimed at single-processor servers with fewer than 15 users.

The new Windows version is Microsoft's answer to the server equivalent of Netbooks, ultra-low cost servers aimed at the smallest of businesses. The product will only be sold preinstalled on new machines.

CEO Steve Ballmer mentioned the product was coming and outlined the rationale at a meeting with financial analysts in February.

"From a revenue perspective, we are introducing a new low cost, low price, low functionality Windows server (version)," he said. "If you take a look at it, as server prices, hardware prices have come down, we don't exactly have a Netbook phenomenon, but if somebody can buy a $500 server, they're a little loathe to spend $500 for the server operating system that goes with it. So we have something that's akin to Netbook at the server level, and we'll be introducing our Foundation edition over the next month or two."

Microsoft also said that, through the end of September, it will donate a portion of its revenue from Windows Server Foundation to TechSoup.org and Telecentre.org, two groups that help bring technology to nonprofit organizations.

"We see this as an opportunity not only to deliver a technical foundation for business growth, but also to create a financial foundation for community," Ballmer said in a statement on Wednesday.

Source:cnet

[VelMurugan]

Microsoft wants fewer H-1B visas

WASHINGTON: Microsoft Corp has filed substantially fewer applications for specialty visas for next year as the weak economy depletes its need for workers, a top company official said.

Speaking on the first day the federal government starts taking applications for so-called H-1B visas, General Counsel Brad Smith said he believes the industry will likely follow the software giant's lead.

"I think we will see substantially fewer H-1B applications filed this year. That is the case here at Microsoft," Smith told reporters on a conference call.

In recent years, US immigration officials have been overwhelmed by applications for H-1B visas, which let US companies employ foreign guest workers in highly specialised jobs for three years. But worldwide recession and major layoffs at companies such as Microsoft and International Business Machines Corp have changed the picture.

Smith also said that, in contrast to last year, most applications will be for current workers. "Fewer than half of our applications will be for new hires," he said. "It won't sunrise me if we see that as a broader trend in the industry as a whole."

Smith would not comment directly on legislation likely to be reintroduced soon aimed at ensuring US workers are given first priority over foreign workers in hiring decisions.

The legislation, backed by Senators Charles Grassley, a Republican, and Richard Durbin, a Democrat, will likely require companies to pledge to make a good-faith effort to hire Americans for a job before seeking a visa for it.

Source : indiatimes

[sajiv]

Microsoft applies for fewer H1-B visas

Washington, Apr 2: This year Indian Techies will face fewer passes to their dreamland, Microsoft. Bearing the brunt of economic crisis and recession, Microsoft has filed fewer H1-B applications this year. The number of applications have been reduced to half and there are speculations that other companies of the IT industry will do the same.

As a result of economic slowdown the number of opening, hires and therefore the need for visas have fallen. There has also been a legislation taken up in the United States that will ensure more Americans are hired over foreign nationals. This legislation is supported by senators like Charles Grassley, a Republican, and Richard Durbin, a Democrat. This adds to the worrisome state of Indian Techies.

Other studies show findings contrary to the popular belief that Indians are taking up majority of the jobs in America. For instance, the 12,180 new H-1B visa holders hired by Indian companies in 2008 represented 0.0083 per cent of the US labor force, which is a small fraction of 1/100th of 1 per cent.

[sajiv]

Microsoft warns of PowerPoint zero-day flaw

Hackers have launched attacks targeting an unpatched flaw in Microsoft PowerPoint, the company warned Thursday.

The vulnerability, which affects Microsoft Office 2000 SP3, 2002 SP3, and 2003 SP3, can be exploited by getting a person to open a PowerPoint file rigged for the attack. When the file is opened, PowerPoint will access an invalid object in memory. That then allows an attacker to remotely execute code on the system.

In a security advisory, Microsoft said that at present, attacks are not widespread but are tailored to affect specific victims.

"Microsoft is investigating new reports of a vulnerability in Microsoft Office PowerPoint that could allow remote code execution if a user opens a specially crafted PowerPoint file," said the advisory. "At this time, we are aware only of limited and targeted attacks that attempt to use this vulnerability."

While there is currently no fix for the PowerPoint flaw, Microsoft said that it may release one outside its monthly patching schedule. Workarounds suggested by the company include not opening files received from untrusted sources, using the Microsoft Office Isolated Conversion Environment (MOICE) to open untrusted files, and using Microsoft Office File Block policy to restrict the opening of Office 2003 and earlier documents.

Microsoft's last major PowerPoint patches were released in August.

Source:cnet

[sajiv]

Russia may increase oversight of Microsoft

The Russian government is exploring whether Microsoft deserves closer scrutiny under its antitrust laws, specifically whether the software maker should be added to a government-maintained list of companies with high market share.

Being added to the list itself doesn't mean the company is under investigation, but rather that it must comply with laws governing firms that have a significant market share. Unlike in some regions, Russia starts keeping an eye on companies with even a relatively low share. Anything upwards of about 35 percent share could land a company on the list.

"Russian authorities have opened an inquiry into the PC operating system sector," Microsoft told CNET News in a statement. "We are cooperating fully with their review."

Why the company is just now being considered for the list is unclear.

Russia hasn't been a major regulator of Microsoft in the past. The company has faced scrutiny and oversight in the past in Japan and Korea, in addition to its well-documented battles with regulators in the U.S. and Europe.

Most recently, the E.U. has issued a preliminary finding that Microsoft's inclusion of a browser within Windows violates its antitrust laws. Microsoft has said that the E.U. might force the software maker to distribute other browsers and even disable some Internet Explorer code if a user opts for one of those rivals.

[VelMurugan]

Microsoft files "substantially fewer" U.S. visa apps

Microsoft Corp has filed substantially fewer applications for specialty visas for next year as the weak economy depletes its need for workers, a top company official said on Wednesday.

Speaking on the first day the federal government starts taking applications for so-called H-1B visas, General Counsel Brad Smith said he believes the industry will likely follow the software giant's lead.

"I think we will see substantially fewer H-1B applications filed this year. That is the case here at Microsoft," Smith told reporters on a conference call.

In recent years, U.S. immigration officials have been overwhelmed by applications for H-1B visas, which let U.S. companies employ foreign guest workers in highly specialized jobs for three years. But worldwide recession and major layoffs at companies such as Microsoft and International Business Machines Corp have changed the picture.

Smith also said that, in contrast to last year, most applications will be for current workers.

"Fewer than half of our applications will be for new hires," he said. "It won't surprise me if we see that as a broader trend in the industry as a whole."

Smith would not comment directly on legislation likely to be reintroduced soon aimed at ensuring U.S. workers are given first priority over foreign workers in hiring decisions.

The legislation, backed by Senators Charles Grassley, a Republican, and Richard Durbin, a Democrat, will likely require companies to pledge to make a good-faith effort to hire Americans for a job before seeking a visa for it.

source : yahoo

[sajiv]

Microsoft's 'Lauren' ad follow-up disses Mac power

The confident-looking, curly-haired star of Microsoft's newest ad, which debuted Saturday, says, "I'm technically savvy. I know what I want."

What he wants in a new laptop is portability, power, and good battery life, he tells the camera. And just as with the earlier ad in this campaign, starring redhead Lauren, Microsoft says that if he finds what he's looking for with a price tag of less than $1,500, it'll fork over the cash for it.

Naturally, Giampaolo--who presumably also responded to Microsoft's Craigslist ad for help with market research--ends up finding the PC that fits Microsoft's bill: a Hewlett-Packard Pavilion HDX, but not before spouting out some clever anti-Apple lines. (And no, it's not that he's "not cool enough" to be a Mac person. Quite the contrary: "I'm a PC because I'm really picky," he says.)

As he checks out a MacBook, Giampaolo, in a drooling tone, says it's "sooo sexy," but "Macs to me are about aesthetics more than they are the computing power. I don't want to pay for the brand; I want to pay for the computer." (At first, I thought he was saying "rent," not "brand," but while that may sound snarkier, it wouldn't exactly have made sense.)

[sajiv]

N.Y. hospital taps Microsoft to digitize records

In a win for Microsoft's health care business, New York-Presbyterian Hospital said it will use the software maker's technology as part of a push to make digital health records available to its patients.

The hospital system will start making health records available online, initially to cardiac and cardiothoracic patients. Customers can view their records online, opt to copy them into a personal health record and then, if they wish, share that record with other health care providers.

"These really are the patients' records," said Aurelia Boyer, a former practicing nurse, who now serves as NY Presbyterian's CIO. "It is really their data. it is not the hospital's."

However, that's a big shift for the industry, Boyer acknowledges. "Doctors and hospitals have kept those records sort of under lock and key."

The deal also marks the first time that a Microsoft customer has gone with both its Amalga technology for managing the provider's own records and at the same time tapped HealthVault to provide patient access. Microsoft launched HealthVault back in 2007 but said at the time it would need to line up health care providers to provide people with the impetus to sign up for an account.

The federal government has included billions of stimulus dollars to help spur the health care industry toward digital health records.

Google is also taking aim at the space and has partnered with IBM.

Last week, GE and Intel announced a $250 million joint effort in the digital health arena, with their effort heavily focused on helping people treating and living with chronic illnesses.

At NY Presbyterian, Boyer said that the hospital has put the infrastructure in place to handle large numbers of patients, but wants to start slow to make sure it has the human factors right--educating patients, making sure they know how to secure records, etc.

"We want to make sure we watch our process and we do it well with the patients," she said. Digital heath records, she said, is a part of a broader effort to improve care using technology.

"We are attracted to empowering the patients, helping them move to health and managing their health and not just focusing on such a single episode of care," Boyer said.

Opening back health records to the patient should also help the physicians who refer people in to hospitals such as NY Presbyterian.

"Now my referring physician, if giving right permissions, can look into my Amalga record," said Steve Shihadeh, a vice president in Microsoft's healthcare unit. "One of their big complaints is I send the patient in...and I don't really know what has happened to my patient."

Source:cnet

[sajiv]

Microsoft awards $170 mn contract to HCL

Mumbai: India's leading software firm, HCL Technologies Ltd has acquired a $170 million worth five year IT services contract with the Internet
giant Microsoft Corp.

With this contract, HCL has now become a strategic vendor for technological services for its online services business to the Microsoft Corp. However, HCL sources refused to comment on the news.

According to a source, HCL has assigned 600 employees to the contract and 250 have already started working on the project.

Earlier HCL has signed a contract worth $350-million with Reader's Digest Association (RDA) and Rs 393 crore end-to-end IT services outsourcing deal with general insurance firm National Insurance Company (NIC).

Microsoft contract is the third major contract HCL bagged in last few weeks.

[VelMurugan]

Microsoft fined on pricing

BONN: Germany's main competition agency, the Federal Cartel Office, slapped a fine of 9 million euros ($12 million) on US software company Microsoft for imposing a retail price for its Office Home and Student 2007 software.

Microsoft said it would pay the fine to avoid a lengthy legal dispute and was reviewing its internal processes in Germany to ensure they complied with German law in future.

The Bonn-based agency said Microsoft had harmed free competition by exerting improper influence on the selling price of the software through a major chain, which was not identified in the announcement.

source : indiatimes

[sajiv]

Microsoft to stop free XP support from Apr 14

New Delhi: Microsoft Corp, the internet giant announced its plan to withdraw support from its most popular operating system Windows XP by Apr 14. However the company will provide free security fixes for XP until 2014.

Consumer XP and Office 2003 will be shifted to an 'extended support' phase, which means the customers should pay for Microsoft help on a per-incident, per-hour or alternative basis. The XP users may need to enter into an extended support contract with Microsoft for any issue other than security.

Other than this Microsoft is also planning to stop assistance from Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1. Mainstream support for Exchange Server 2003 Standard and Enterprise edition will also be ended.

OneIndia News

[dwarakesh]

Microsoft: Hoax security software on the Rise

Hoax security software that leads PC users to believe they have a virus on their system was one of the biggest security threats last year, says Microsoft.

According to the software company's latest security report, bogus security software programs often offer a free scan that falsely says a user's computer is infected. If installed, the programs are ineffective against malicious software. Security experts have theorised that those behind the programs reap lucrative profits.

Microsoft said it has detected two Trojan horse programs, Win32/FakeXPA and Win32/FakeSecSen, masquerading as security software on more than three million computers in the last six months of 2008.

The report also revealed that software vulnerabilities dropped three percent in the last half of 2008 compared to the first six months of the year. But more than half of all of the vulnerabilities were considered 'high severity' under the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS). Also, more than half of those problems were considered pretty easy to exploit, putting internet users at greater risk.

Microsoft software contained six of the top 10 browser-based vulnerabilities used by hackers against computers running Windows XP.

Hackers also continued to try to exploit older vulnerabilities in Microsoft applications. The most frequently exploited flaw in Microsoft Office, CVE-2006-2492, was patched more than two years ago yet is still targeted by 91.3 percent of attacks against the software suite.

In 2008, Microsoft released a total of 78 security bulletins that fixed 155 vulnerabilities, which represented a 16.8 percent increase over 2007.

Attackers also looked to exploit problems in other third-party software from vendors such as Adobe, whose PDF reader is widely used. Adobe has had several security vulnerabilities over the last year in its Reader product. Microsoft said it saw more than double the number of attacks aimed at PDF in July 2008 as it did in the whole six months prior.

Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office file formats and PDFs are golden for hackers, since people can often be persuaded to open the documents using social engineering tricks via email. Microsoft said more than 97 percent of email messages are unwanted because they either contain malicious attachments, are spam or promote a phishing site.

The US remained the number one country for hosting phishing sites, the report said.

source: pcworld

[dwarakesh]

Microsoft announces Xbox 360 Arcade in India

Microsoft has announced the availability of Xbox 360 Arcade in India. This is the entry level gaming console and is priced for INR 16,990.

The Xbox 360 Arcade has come as a replacement for the Xbox 360 Core model and also packs in five Xbox Live Arcade games. The console is coming bundled with five classic arcade games: Uno, Luxor 2, Boom Boom Rocket, Pac-man Championship Edition, and Feeding Frenzy. Also, enclosed is a wireless controller, but the headset, HDMI cable, and network cable are sold separately.

The Xbox 360 Arcade is the chopped down version for gaming console and is best suited for the first timers. It is equipped with the IBM PowerPC 3 core 3.2GHz processor and 512MB GDDR3 video memory.  Also, in the planning is a more affordable version of gaming console.

Besides gaming, the users can also use their console for other entertainment activities like viewing photos, movies, and music.

source: itvoir

[sajiv]

Microsoft pulls plug on campus bar

With the economy in the tank, Microsoft has decided not to let its workers follow.

The software maker has confirmed it has canceled plans to have a bar as part of an expansion of its Redmond campus.

The pub, which had been planned for more than a year, was to be part of a collection of restaurants and stores that were due to open next week as part of the company's new headquarters for its Entertainment and Devices unit. Spokesman Lou Gellos confirmed the company recently decided to pull the plug.

"We had to take another look at this," Gellos said. "We are sensitive to the business environment and that meant not having a pub."

In January, Microsoft made the company's first-ever companywide layoffs and has said it is cutting as many as 5,000 jobs amid the broad economic downturn. The company has also been cutting vendors, travel, and other expenses as it looks to trim costs.

The bar was planned for "The Commons," a central area in the center of the Entertainment and Devices campus. Although the bar won't open, the area will still feature a collection of popular Pacific Northwest eateries as well as various cell phone shops, a salon, and other outlets.
The Commons is surrounded by four buildings for the entertainment unit, one of which is already occupied and another that is due to be filled in the next week or so. By mid-July, Microsoft expects all four buildings to be occupied, Gellos said.

Word that Microsoft kicked the keg came earlier on Friday from a report on Seattle-area tech site TechFlash. The owner of the proposed pub told TechFlash he was stunned by the news, which came via a letter from Microsoft. The bar, which was due to open on Monday, already had been outfitted with its beer taps, and workers had been hired.

[sajiv]

Microsoft, Yahoo reportedly in talks for advertising partnership news

News channels are abuzz once again with rumours of a Microsoft-Yahoo link-up. Only this time, it's not a complete change of ownership but an advertising partnership. Competitive stress in an industry dominated by Mountain View-based Google may have pushed the two rivals, who have plenty of bad blood between them, towards each other again.

News reports Friday say the chief executives of Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc. met last week to discuss linkups. In one scenario, Microsoft would sell Yahoo's search ads while Yahoo manages Microsoft's display ads. It's the first significant move toward a new deal since Yahoo walked away from Microsoft's unsolicited buyout offer last year.

Last year Microsoft offered $47 billion for Yahoo, but the Sunnyvale web portal refused the deal and fought off Microsoft. That angered some shareholder groups, including a group led by Carl Icahn, and Yahoo then had to fight a proxy war. Meanwhile, Yahoo's share price plummeted below a third of what Microsoft had offered to pay.

CEO Jerry Yang, who started Yahoo, suffered from these battles and ultimately surrendered the corner office, returning to his erstwhile title of ''Chief Yahoo.'' The company brought in former Autodesk boss Carol Bartz as CEO. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has already had a meeting with Bartz to discuss possible partnership areas and said he was not averse to a tie-up.

Google, meanwhile, is also making an entry into the display advertising market, threatening the longer-standing display businesses of both Yahoo and Microsoft.

[sajiv]

Microsoft's platform for small businesses

CHENNAI: Microsoft India expanded its Windows Server family of operating systems with the launch of Windows Server 2008 Foundation. Built for businesses with 15 or fewer users, it delivers the reliability, security and manageability of the Windows Server platform, at a price affordable and within reach of small businesses, says a release.

[dwarakesh]

Microsoft Security Update Patches Excel Flaw

Microsoft released its largest number of patches so far this year in yesterday's monthly 'Patch Tuesday' security update.

The update fixes a number of well-known problems in the company's software, including vulnerabilities in Excel and the WordPad text converter that have been exploited by attackers in a small number of online attacks.

A few other known bugs also were fixed, including some issues in Windows and Internet Explorer that could be used to pull off a so-called 'carpet-bombing' attack, and Windows flaws that could give attackers extra privileges on a Windows machine.

All told, Microsoft released eight software updates, fixing dozens of bugs in its products. Five of the updates are rated critical by Microsoft, meaning they fix flaws that could be exploited by attackers to run unauthorised software on a computer.

Systems administrators should probably patch the Excel and WordPad bugs first, said Eric Schultze, the chief technology officer with Shavlik Technologies. "There are known issues out here, and why flirt with danger," he said.

The patch for Internet Explorer - always a favourite target of attack by hackers - and another critical fix for Microsoft's DirectX multimedia software should also be given top priority, he said.

Another critical patch is in the HTTP software used by Windows computers to connect to websites. This update is rated critical for all supported versions of Windows.

Microsoft also fixed a long-standing Internet Information Services (IIS) issue that could allow an attacker to get unauthorised privileges on a computer. This kind of attack, called 'token kidnapping', was first reported more than a year ago by Cesar Cerrudo, the CEO of security research firm Argeniss.

A token kidnapping attack could be very dangerous on servers that allow users to upload code - web servers used by a hosting provider, for example - because it could give users administrative control over the entire system, letting them control other users' websites.

The carpet-bombing patches are also interesting. Last year, security researcher Nitesh Dhanjani showed how Apple's Safari browser could litter a victim's desktop with downloaded programs. Another researcher soon found a way to combine this behaviour with some flaws in Windows and Internet Explorer in order to run unauthorised software on a victim's PC.

Apple patched the Safari part of the attack last year, and Microsoft has now followed suit and fixed the underlying Windows and IE issues, meaning that even if attackers found some other way to place software on a victim's machine, the carpet-bomb attack would no longer work.

[dwarakesh]

Microsoft brings Exchange Server 2010 Beta

According to the latest reports, Microsoft has announced on its blog that the Beta release of Exchange Server 2010 is finally rolling out, and this is likely to have some big impact on the channel for many different reasons.

The Exchange Server 2010 Beta release is built with the Microsoft Software Plus Services model in mind. It comes with several new features, most notably, a new email archive.

According to the company, this new feature will help to protect information and meet compliance requirements. But, it is not confirmed that whether Exchange now competes with all of the archive products that were designed to work with Exchange that Microsoft now includes.

In addition to archiving, Exchange Server will also include role-based access control, and the ability of an authorized compliance officer or other security personnel to conduct a multi-mailbox search.

Earlier Microsoft had announced the Exchange 2010 to be available from the second period of 2009 and the preliminary changes include; Storage Groups are being eliminated and incorporated into the Information Store. Clustering is now at the Database level, not Server level.

source: itvoir

[sajiv]

Microsoft sales drop for first time in 23 years

Microsoft reported a drop in quarterly revenues on Thursday for the first time in the 23 years since it went public.

But investors still gave the world largest software company their approval, sending Microsoft shares higher in after-market trading as its aggressive cost cutting measures preserved profitability.

The Seattle-based company said its revenues dropped six per cent to $13.7 billion, compared to the year-ago quarter. Profits of $3 billion represented a 32-per cent drop from the $4.4 billion it earned in the same period last year.

The company has been hit hard by a drop in consumer spending, with people delaying or canceling purchases of new computers. Sales of Microsoft's Windows operating system were down for only the second time in history, but Microsoft said it saw signs that the worst may be over.

"While market conditions remained weak during the quarter, I was pleased with the organization's ability to offset revenue pressures with the swift implementation of cost-savings initiatives," Microsoft chief financial officer Chris Liddell said in a statement Thursday.

"We expect the weakness to continue through at least the next quarter."

[sajiv]

Microsoft's new server platform to support SMEs

CHENNAI: Microsoft India has expanded its industry-leading windows server family of operating systems with the launch of the windows server 2008 foundation.

Built for businesses with 15 or fewer users, the new server would be reliable, secure and possess manageability of the windows server platform at a price that was within reach of small businesses.

It would empower small businesses with the ability to run business applications and databases, host websites and also offer basic server functionality such as file and print sharing as well as remote access.

In India, Microsoft has already partnered with HP and Dell in the first rollout phase to provide the foundation preinstalled on servers for customers.

In the coming months, the company would establish similar partnerships with multiple original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to further strengthen its distribution channel for the windows server platform.

Bob Muglia, President, Server and Tools Business, Microsoft Worldwide said, "This platform will empower small businesses with access to the power of server-based business software at an affordable price in the all familiar windows environment. As businesses grow, customers can upgrade to other members of the windows server family which provides additional functionality such as integrated e-mail, simplified management, virtualization and other advanced features." According to analyst firm AMI Partners, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) employ 90 per cent of the world's workforce and account for more than 50 per cent of GDP worldwide. "Over the last few years, technology has emerged as a key business enabler for the rapidly expanding SME segment in India.

Keeping the market potential in mind, Microsoft expects the new windows server 2008 foundation platform to be especially popular in small businesses across the country," said Pallavi Kathuria, Director, Server Business Group, Microsoft India.

[sajiv]

Raising Bill Gates

SEATTLE -- Spend time with the family of Bill Gates, and eventually someone will mention the water incident.

The future software mogul was a headstrong 12-year-old and was having a particularly nasty argument with his mother at the dinner table. Fed up, his father threw a glass of cold water in the boy's face.

"Thanks for the shower," the young Mr. Gates snapped.

The incident lives in Gates family lore not just for its drama but also because it was a rare time that Bill Gates Sr., father of his famous namesake, lost his cool. The argument presaged a turning point in the life of a tempestuous boy that would set him on course to become the Bill Gates whom the public knows as co-founder of Microsoft Corp. and the world's richest man.

Behind the Bill Gates success story is the other William Gates. The senior Mr. Gates balanced a family thrown off kilter by a boy who appeared to gain the intellect of an adult almost overnight. He served as a quiet counsel as his son jumped into and thrived in the cutthroat business world. When huge wealth put new pressure on the son, the elder Gates stepped in to start what is now the world's largest private philanthropy.

Bill Gates Sr., 83 years old, is now co-chair of his son's $30 billion philanthropy, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He has avoided the spotlight. The public details of his life include little beyond his official biography at the foundation, which says he was a Seattle lawyer, World War II veteran, nonprofit volunteer and father of three. He has compiled his thoughts on life in a short book to be published next week.

In interviews with The Wall Street Journal, Bill Gates Sr., Bill Gates and their family shared many details of the family's story for the first time, including Bill Gates Jr.'s experience in counseling and how his early interest in computers came about partly as a result of a family crisis. The sometimes colliding forces of discipline and freedom within the clan shaped the entrepreneur's character.

The relationship between father and son entered a new phase when the software mogul began working full-time seven months ago at the Gates Foundation. For the past 13 years, the father has been the sole Gates family member with a daily presence at the foundation, starting it from the basement of his home and minding it while his son finished up his final decade running Microsoft. They now work directly together for the first time.

At six-foot-six, Bill Gates Sr. is nearly a full head taller than his son. He's known to be more social than the younger Bill Gates, but they share a sharp intellect and a bluntness that can come across to some as curt. He isn't prone to introspection and he plays down his role in his son's life.

"As a father, I never imagined that the argumentative, young boy who grew up in my house, eating my food and using my name would be my future employer," Mr. Gates Sr. told a group of nonprofit leaders in a 2005 speech. "But that's what happened."

The first stage -- argumentative young boy -- "started about the time he was 11," Mr. Gates Sr. says in one of a series of interviews. That's about when young Bill became an adult, says Bill Sr., and an increasing headache for the family.

Until that time, the Gates home had been peaceful. Bill Sr. and his wife, Mary, had three children: Kristi; then Bill, born in 1955; and Libby. It was a close family that thrived on competitions -- board games, cards, ping-pong. And on rituals: Sunday dinners at the same time every week, and at Christmas, matching pajamas for every family member.

While very involved in his kids' lives, Mr. Gates Sr. was somewhat distant emotionally, which his children say probably reflects his generation. His stature, combined with a lawyerly bent for carefully choosing his words, also made him intimidating at times. "He'd come home and he'd sit in a chair and eat dinner, but there was never any kind of warm, give-me-a-hug kind of thing," says Kristi Blake, his oldest daughter.

Mr. Gates Sr. left much of the day-to-day parenting to his wife while he was building his career at a Seattle law firm. Daughter of a Seattle banker, Ms. Gates had been an athlete and top student in high school and college, where she met Bill Sr. She became a full-time volunteer and served on corporate boards.

Ms. Gates encouraged her kids to study hard, play sports and take music lessons. (Bill Gates tried the trombone with little success.) And she imparted a discipline that reflected her upbringing in a well-to-do family. She expected her kids to dress neatly, be punctual and socialize with the many adults who visited their home. For the most part, young Bill dutifully abided.

"She was the most engaged parent and she had high expectations of all of us," says Libby Armintrout, Bill's younger sister. "Not just grades and that sort of thing, but how we behaved in public, how we would be socially."

[dwarakesh]

Microsoft reveals specifications for Windows 7 PCs

After the availability of the Windows 7 RC for Windows 7, Microsoft has also made public the system requirements for the operating system.

According to the company, the users who have already moved to a Windows Vista-tailored machine will not need to upgrade their hardware yet again just to accommodate Windows 7. The Beta testers indicate that Windows 7 outperforms Windows Vista on the same hardware; therefore the system requirements for the Windows 7 are roughly the same as for its precursor.

According to the software giant, the System Requirements for Windows 7 are "1GHz or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor; 1 GB of RAM (32-bit)/2 GB of RAM (64-bit); 16 GB of available disk space (32-bit)/20 GB (64-bit); DirectX 9 graphics device with Windows Display Driver Model 1.0 or higher driver." It is the bare minimum requirements needed to run Windows 7.

Unlike Vista, Windows 7's Windows Experience Index goes up to 7.9, a score that reflect the horsepower of machines with multi-core processors, solid state disks, high-end graphics cards, and 4+ GB of system memory.

source: itvoir

[sajiv]

Microsoft layoffs hit several products

In the wake of additional layoffs on Tuesday, Microsoft is scaling back--but not totally eliminating--several products. After cutting 1,400 jobs in January, Microsoft said on Tuesday that it is cutting more than 3,000 more jobs.

Among those products affected are Microsoft's ResponsePoint phone system, its .Net Micro Framework, and its MSN Direct Service.

Microsoft said it will continue to sell and support the initial version of ResponsePoint, which is aimed at small businesses.

"We will also continue to promote the product online and spotlight compatible 3rd party services and add-on products," Microsoft said in a statement. "The team is evaluating the strategy for the next version of the product and will continue to investigate the opportunity in the small business market."

Things are similar for MSN Direct, which offers traffic and other services to devices like in-car map systems.

"While the group was impacted by yesterday's job eliminations, they will continue to maintain the current MSN Direct service and invest in developing a low cost receiver for multiple devices," Microsoft said.

As for the .Net Micro Framework, Microsoft said it will make the project a community source effort.

"Microsoft will continue to support existing customers according to any agreements that we have in place with them, and will honor our lifecycle support pledge," Microsoft said. "Forums continue to be available at MSDN. After moving to the community model, new customers will be supported by the community."

The software maker said it will eliminate the royalties that had been associated with the product. As a result of the shift, Microsoft said the team was affected by job cuts and the remaining workers will shift to the broader .Net Framework team.

Microsoft also confirmed it made deep cuts at Massive, its in-game advertising unit. However, the company said a report Tuesday that three-quarters of staff were cut was an overstatement. Tuesday's cuts affected 28 percent of full-time staff. The cuts also apparently hit hard two Microsoft-produced magazines for developers, but I am still working on getting details on that front.

Also of note, of course, is the fact that after the January cuts it took some time for some of the product decisions to be clear. At the time, Microsoft said it would cut 5,000 jobs over an 18-month-period.

Meanwhile, Microsoft left the door open to further job cuts.

"As we move forward, we will continue to closely monitor the impact of the economic downturn on the company and if necessary, take further actions on our cost structure including additional job eliminations," Ballmer said in a memo to staff.

The company has also taken other actions including cutting spending on vendors, travel, and contractors, and even canceling its annual picnic.

[sajiv]

Microsoft's layoff email to employees

`Microsoft Corp has sent layoff notices to more than 3,000 employees, almost completing plans announced in January to fire some 5,000 workers, the company said on Tuesday.

In January, against the backdrop of falling computer sales and US recession, Microsoft announced a plan to cut 5,000 jobs, or about 5 percent of its 96,000 staff, over 18 months, in an attempt to save $1.5 billion a year.

And in an email sent to its employees on Tuesday, Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer left the door open to even more cuts.

Here's the complete text of the email sent by CEO Steve Ballmer to employees.

[dwarakesh]

Microsoft accused of setting IE as default browser via Windows Upgrade

Mozilla and Opera has accused Microsoft for offering pre installed Internet Explorer 8 to Windows users Windows Update and silently changing the default browser on PCs.

Both the firms are part of the European Union's antitrust action against Microsoft, which was accused in January for bundling the browser with Windows and thereby shielding it from browser competition. The sources cite that using Windows update channel to update Internet Explorer and changing the default browsers silently indicates how the company is using its monopolistic position to damage competition in related products.

The related companies are bothered about the bundled offer of Internet Explorer with Windows and then using the Windows update to reset the user choice.  Mozilla and Opera have accused the software king pin for adhering to the process of Windows update to offer Internet Explorer 8. The mechanism sets it as default browser in the machine irrespective of the previous settings.

Since January, several rivals, including Mozilla and Google  have joined the case as third-party participants.

Several weeks ago, companies like Adobe, IBM and Oracle, were also given access to the allegations.

[VelMurugan]

Microsoft filing for fewer H1B visas

As the US Citizenship and Immigration Services started accepting applications from Wednesday for the much sought-after H-1B work visas for professionals, software giant Microsoft said this year it is filing less petitions for work visas under this category.

This is primarily because of the current economic situation in the country, Microsoft said. "Given the economic downturn, we are filing substantially fewer H-1B applications than we filed last year," Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith wrote in a blog posting on microsoftissues.com.

Unlike previous years, Smith said a solid majority of Microsoft's applications this year are for employees who are already working for Microsoft in the US, so that it can retain their talent and specialised skills in this country rather than risk losing them to a foreign competitor.

Observing that Microsoft would be creating several thousand new jobs this year, Smith said the software giant would hire majority of them from the US but would also hire talented professionals from overseas so as to remain competitive in the market.

"To succeed and continue adding jobs in the highly competitive global technology business, Microsoft and other US companies must be able to hire top talent wherever it is located," he said.

Source : yahoo

[dwarakesh]

Microsoft Security Patch to Fix Just One Flaw

Microsoft revealed that this month's security update will patch just one bug - a month-old flaw in PowerPoint that developers admitted they missed during stress testing.

The single update, which will be labeled 'critical' - Microsoft's highest threat ranking, is a big drop from last month, when the company issued eight updates that patched 23 vulnerabilities.

The sole unpatched public flaw was the PowerPoint vulnerability Microsoft acknowledged April 2 in a security advisory that warned of ongoing attacks using rigged presentation files.

"The question, is there a pattern here, have they caught up?" asked Storms. "Could we have hit bottom?"

But he immediately dismissed that idea. "Don't think for a minute that I believe that," Storms said.

As is Microsoft's practice, it released only the most general information about the upcoming security patch in an advance notification.

Unlike the April security advisory, however, the early warning today noted that PowerPoint 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2007 will require patching; the advisory had not painted the newest version, PowerPoint 2007, with the bug brush.

Previously, Microsoft had admitted that the bug was in an older PowerPoint file format. The inclusion of PowerPoint 2007, Storms speculated, means that the new version may be affected when it tries to convert from an older format to the Office 2007 native format.

A side benefit of the light Microsoft load is that it will make it easier for users and IT administrators to also deploy the anticipated Adobe Reader and Acrobat security updates.

Adobe said last week that it had set May 12, Microsoft's already-scheduled patch day, to release updates for a critical vulnerability, in the popular PDF applications.

Source: pcworld

[sajiv]

Microsoft to axe 55 jobs in India

New Delhi Software giant Microsoft will lay off about 55 employees in India, which is one per cent of its Indian staff, as slowdown hits the sector, affecting business and profitability.

The announcement on this is part of the Redmond-based company's decision in January this year to cut 5,000 jobs globally amid the ongoing slowdown.

The company would lay off 55 employees from its 5,500 people-strong Indian operations in a bid to realign its business in the country, the Microsoft India spokesperson said.

When asked for details, the spokesperson declined to comment saying, "We are currently working with the concerned employees to evaluate alternative positions internally and where applicable look at mutually favourable disengagement terms

[dwarakesh]

Microsoft Plans 10 Fake 'Updates' for Windows 7

Microsoft plans to test Windows 7's update mechanism by feeding users of the just-issued Release Candidate as many as 10 fake updates in the coming week, the company said Friday.

It will be the second time that Microsoft has released phony updates for Windows 7; in February, it tested the beta by delivering five bogus patches.

People running Windows 7 RC, which publicly debuted late on May 4, will be offered the mock updates beginning on Tuesday, May 12, said Brandon LeBlanc, a Microsoft spokesman. Microsoft wants to "verify our ability to deliver and manage updating of Windows 7 in certain real-life scenarios," LeBlanc explained in a blog post Friday evening.

As before, the updates do not actually deliver any new features or fixes, but replace existing system files with exact duplicates.

Unlike the February test, however, this time many of the updates will install automatically, according to a second blog entry on the Microsoft Update site. One of the updates will also test a new notification feature, said the update blog. "[It] provides detailed information about available updates that need to be installed manually," Microsoft said. "Windows 7 RC users will be prompted to install this update and provided more information about this feature -- it will not install automatically."

Users will also need to go to Windows Update and manually install the updates that don't install automatically, the update team added.

To decline the test updates, users must set the Windows Update control panel to something other than the recommended "Install updates automatically," then right-click each fake update that appears and select "Hide update" to delete it from the list.

Microsoft has already released one legitimate update for Windows 7 RC. On Thursday, the company pushed a patch for a major bug that had slipped through testing. If left unfixed, the bug can cripple applications or block them installing properly, Microsoft said in a support document.

The fix was delivered through Windows Update starting Thursday. Computers running Windows 7 RC that have Automatic Updates set download and install patches should have already received and installed the bug fix.

Microsoft publicly launched Windows 7 RC last week, several days after it posted the preview on MSDN and TechNet, the company's developer and professional IT subscription services.

source:pcworld

[sajiv]

Microsoft taking on Wii with motion-sensing camera

Nintendo won't be the only video game console maker with a sophisticated motion-sensitive controller if a report out Tuesday from The Wall Street Journal is accurate.

The report said Microsoft plans to unveil a new video camera that would allow players of its Xbox 360 console to control games by moving their bodies. And if true, it's a clear shot across the bow of Nintendo and its innovative Wii console, which shocked the video game world when it was released in late 2006 with its own motion-sensitive controller.

The camera may well be the product of Microsoft's reported acquisition of Israeli start-up, 3DV, which had developed a motion-sensitive camera.

For months, there had been speculation that Microsoft's interest in 3DV was about taking on Nintendo and the Wii. But neither company would confirm such speculation. On Tuesday, Microsoft declined to comment on the Journal story.

The Journal said, "the camera is based on technology that Microsoft developed inside its sprawling research arm," though it added that, "Microsoft also recently acquired...3DV...which has developed a 3D camera and holds related patents."

For Microsoft, coming up with a controller that could be appealing to a more casual gaming audience is key to carving away at Nintendo's giant lead in the so-called "next-generation" video game console wars. Though both Microsoft and Sony--which makes the much-maligned PlayStation 3--contend that the Wii is not really a competitor, the two companies originally lumped all three consoles together before the generation began in 2005 with the Xbox launch, and continued a year later with the Wii and PS3 launches.

The Journal reported that the new camera could be shown at next month's E3 show in Los Angeles, though it might not come out until later in the year, and that Microsoft is expected to first sell the camera as an accessory rather than bundling it with the Xbox.

On June 22, Geek Gestalt will kick off Road Trip 2009. After driving more than 12,000 miles in the Pacific Northwest, the Southwest and the Southeast over the last three years, I'll be looking for the best in technology, science, military, nature, aviation and more in Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, and South and North Dakota. If you have a suggestion for someplace to visit, drop me a line. And in the meantime, join the Road Trip 2009 Facebook page and follow my Twitter feed.